ATR’s recently revealed robovie-mR2 is being tested as a kind of in-store marketing machine. The robot is small enough to fit comfortably on a store’s shelves next to products, allowing it to bark information at browsing patrons on the prowl for the latest deals. The speech synthesis is surprisingly natural, and with the help of an array of cameras the robot can keep tabs on where people are and what they’re looking at. On the same front, NEC has reportedly rented out 50 of its PaPeRo robots to businesses and research institutes interested in developing applications for communication robots. NEC is positioning PaPeRo as the all-purpose go-to robot for exactly this sort of application in hopes of finding a market for the platform.

With ED Corporation’s CIROMI service robots patrolling South Korean cinemas, and Fujitsu’s ENON hawking goods and recommending restaurants to mall shoppers in January; could this be the next big marketing push for service and communication robots?